Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-24

| fortune to possess and which many more
would be unwilling to be saddled with at
any price. The guardian of millions. IN
less he have designs on them himself, has
reason to fee- those who have.
The underground basement of the build
! ing is rented by an individual named
Kohlman, who follows the occupation OF
barber. AS the barber's profession is
one of those which is not interrupted by
the Sabbath-which, indeed, is an es-
! pecially busy one during those Sunday
morning hours when people who have
neglected to get shaved on Saturday
nights, come up to be made presentable,
| and in keeping with their best coats,
| therefore Mr.. Kohlman arose as usual on
this 9th of October, aud appeared on the
| corner Of Blocker street at twenty-five
minutes before seven, as he info rmed
| himself by glance st the clock, which
stood directly over the vault in the bank.
Mr.. K0hlman remarke d to himself that 8
hank with nobody IN it was a pretty
dreary looking place, anyway; contrasted
the easy affluence of the bank directors
with his own arduous and precarious
existence, and so descended to bis shop,
! lit the fire under the boiler, and got out
| his brushes and raZorS.
The policeman whose beat took him
| past the bank at intervals of twenty min
utes, now sauntered up and paused on
| the corner. A young woman, carrying q
prayer book in her hand, approached and
! stopped to ask him the hour. He COZ
suited the same clock thGt had Just en-
| lightened Mr.. HOFFMAN, and informed the
churchgoer that it was just quarter to
seven. She thanked him and hurried of,
and he followed her slowly. Fifteen min
utes later another officer, passing on his
way TO the central office in Mulberry
street, looked through the bank windows,
and saw man with long whiskers and
wearing light linen buster, busily en-
gagged in polishing the woodwork of the
I large fixed screen which surrounds the
desk room and vault. The mantle
jsritor, of course, glanced up and met
the officers gaze, nodded Familiarity to
him, and went on with his work, while
the officer, weary of his nights vigil,
pursued his way to headquarters. Itthis
''janitOr" had been more closely scrutin-
lied perhaps New York would have
missed the experience of very startling
sensation.
The hands of the clock moved slowly
on, marking minute after minute, and
hour after hour. It's low ticking echoed
regularly through the vacant apartment
for vacant it was, TO all appearance. No
other sound was audible there; at least
no one mas ever been found VINO could
say that he had heard any other. Nor
was a witness ever produced to swear
that he saw any person enter or leave the
bank on that Sunday morning. Every
thing within seemed silent, still and Or
, derby; and yet, during those quiet Sab
! bath hours, something very unsual and
interesting was taking place directly be-
meath that self same decorous and non
committGl timepiece.
Was the sleep of the directors OF the
MaRhattRn Savings Institution visited by
/ uneasy dreams that morning? Were the
thousands OF poor depOsitorS, the sum Of
whose earnings was collected in the
great safe, harassed by any premonitions
of calamity? Did no spectre OF crime
fit through the chambers Of that great
police hive around the corner. No..
Everywhere broOded security and peace;
everywhere save only in that narrow
space within the screen, where des-
peTate effort was being made, IN terrible
silence, to realize the hopes and schemes
which had been CheTishing and ConcoCt-
ing for years. Vast stakes were being
won and lost in those short hours, and
yet no sign showed on the surface to
give any Indication OF the CONFUSION GO
ing on below.
By o'clock Broadway and the sdioin-
ing streets were beginning TO- look fairly
alive with a holiday crowd tbrOnging
forth in constantly increasing numbers
TO enjoy the pure October air and sun
shine. Everything was orderly, quiet
and commonplace. Ten, fifteen, twenty
minutes more; and then, all Of sudden,
the respectable crowd of pedestrians
were treated TO q spectacle that startled
them out Of their propriety.
CHAPTER II.
The second door on Blocker street
the one communicating with the upper
floors of the Manhattan bank building
was suddenly burst open and fantastic
apparitiOn bOlted forth on the sidewalk
1t was an elderly, understood man, his
thin gray hair and beard all in disorder.
He was clad only in torn shirt, desti-
tute of collar, a pair of trousers, and
with stockings on his feet, but no shoes.
His features, otherwise insignificant,
were rendered noticeable by the scared
and half frenZied expression which was
stamped upon them, and his aspect was
further rendered interesting by the cir
cumstance, Conspicuously apparent, that
his wrists were manacled together by
pair Of heavy steel handouts. Alto
gether he had the look of an escaped lu-
matte, and, inasmuch ast,the desperate fit
was manifestly upon him, the startled
spectators pru ieptly gave him wide
berth.
Down towards Broadway sCurried this
. wild-looking figure, and turning the cor
ner sharply he plunged down the steps
of Kohlman's tonsorial saloon. The
worthy artist, who had been sharpening
all the raZors in anticipation of 8 GUS
toner, was not little amazed by SO
headlong and unherGlded en- Eruption.
But when he recognized in the person of
his abrupt and unkempt visitor no less an
Individual than his old friend and gossip,
Louis WeTkle, the amiable and excellent
janltor of the Manhattan Savings Institu-
ton, his establishment knew no bounds.
1t SO happened that e gentleman of per-
haps forty years of age, fashIonably
dressed, with an amethyst ring on his
finger, and G fine gold wstch chain lying
across his wsistcoat, was strolling past
the bank st the moment Of the llnitor'S
appearance, and when the latter plunged
down Kohlman's steps, the gentleman,
drawn by curiosity, followed him. Os-
tensibly, he came TO get a shave, but as
hoffman was thrown far too much eff
his balance to allow Of mis- paying ordl-
nary attention to customers, the gentle
man very amisbly stood by snd listened
to the curious story which Werkle, in an
swer to the baroer's urgent interrogsto-
ries, was beginning to deliver himself of.
very curious story IL certainly was.